Today we’d like to introduce you to Kallie Rollenhagen.
Hi Kallie, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I currently wear several hats: My day job is as the director of design and user experience at Carleton College, which I came to after about a decade of nonprofit marketing and communications and always being the one to pick up the design work. To support my love of design — I started out as an architecture major — I’m currently a student at MCAD (Minneapolis College of Art and Design), getting my MA in graphic and web design.
As a creative outlet, I’m also a photographer. I’ve been taking photos most of my life, but professionally for about the past 5 years. I work with small businesses, families, couples, and arts organizations. Since I work with a lot of creatives at work giving design direction and feedback, I enjoy having my own creative practice that I own from A to Z. Plus, I get to meet so many great folks! I’ve also started doing some freelance branding and design work, which has been fun.
I’m also a champion of rural places. I grew up in rural Minnesota, then moved away and lived in several cities (Milwaukee, London, Baltimore, Chicago), before coming back to southern Minnesota. I feel lucky that I found such a creatively oriented career and community in a smaller place.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Since childhood, I thought I wanted to be an architect. Growing up in a rural community, there were not a lot of different careers modeled, especially not in the field of design. I went to UW-Milwaukee as an architecture major, but about halfway through program, just felt the absense of how the design of spaces actually impacts the people within then. I ended up majoring in psychology with a minor in architecture.
I graduated into the 2009 recession. That launched my career in nonprofits, since I did two years in a volunteer corps program. Those were hugely impactful early career experiences. Plus, I learned how to live on very little money and also made some lifelong friends.
I spent most of my 20s working in the world of community development financial institutions, aka, nonprofit banks. I still have a love for CDFIs, which deploy money to communities and businesses that banks can’t or won’t finance.
I grew up as a farmers’ daughter, and so one big struggle of my career has been the 8-5 workday schedule. I’m a seasonal person, and probably wired more like an entrepreneur. So, photography was a good way to have a business that was all mine, and that could help propel other dreams, like grad school and travel.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
(And also, employee/professional — both/and!)
I think like many creative folks that live and work in rural areas, folks probably have a hard time describing what I do. To some, I’m a photographer. To others, a creative director. To most, I’m the convener and connector and community builder — I love to pull folks together with the hopes that new collaborations could emerge, or honestly, just to help folks feel a sense of connection.
Perhaps because being a connector and includer is core to who I am, I overlook that strength. But it’s a point of pride when friends call this out, which says it’s something I value about myself. I know firsthand that rural communities and Minnesota culture can make it hard to make new friends. Between the different hats I wear, I get to know an interesting cross-section of people. I live in a college town, so I’m proud of bridging college folks with community folks.
Can you tell us more about what you were like growing up?
I am the youngest of four, with three older brothers. I grew up on a farm, and so I was often outside or exploring on my own. While my brothers and parents were around, there was an age gap between me and my brothers, and so I had kind of this isolated childhood that I valued. I loved the freedom I had from a young age to pack up a little bag, venture out into the pasture and read or draw or write stories. I’d sit on our rock pile for hours and marvel at the beauty of the prairie and the sky. We moved to Northfield in part because of the huge prairie expanse of Carleton’s Arb. I’m a deeply place-based person, and I find prairies so comforting and beautiful.
All this to say: Beauty is a core value of mine, and always has been. My mom was a collector of antiques and also a quilter. From her, I got an appreciation for handcrafted things. She taught me the value of quality things and of functional creative pursuits — I like photography in the same way my mom likes quilts: We can give away the end product and it will (hopefully) outlast us.
I was also interested in design from an early age: I’d rip off corn leaves from the plants in the fall to layout floor plans. In the winter, I’d draw up house plans for my friends to walk into the snow at recess so we could play house. For Christmas one year my dad gave me a 3D home architect CD rom program, and I spent hours and hours designing huge mansions that I dreamt of living in.
As a child, as now, I was most comfortable alone, but I’d plan big birthday parties and other gatherings, where all the high school cross sections were invited. I was a connector of people even as a teen, and bridged the athletes and theater kids.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://kallierollenhagen.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kallierollenhagen/
